Car fire at SSU damages five vehicles, melting headlights, popping tires

A Sonoma State University student about to head out after a day of class Tuesday started her car and the engine caught fire, destroying the Volkswagen Jetta and damaging five other vehicles.

No one was injured but two vehicles were totaled, three had to be towed and damage overall was estimated as much as $50,000, according to Rancho Adobe fire Battalion Chief Herb Wandel.

The 2:10 p.m. fire was in the crowded G lot, on the northeast side of campus.

“She had been in class all day. She came out, was trying to leave and an electrical issue started the fire,” Wandel said.

Firefighters stopped the flames at the Jetta, but radiating heat melted plastic and paint on neighboring vehicles and at least one other vehicle’s tires popped. During the fire a hood support arm, or strut, from the Jetta shot off and landed some 60 feet away, damaging a vehicle and starting a small fire in bark. “Fortunately nobody was walking or standing around the area,” he said.

You can reach Staff Writer Randi Rossmann at 707-521-5412 or randi.rossmann@pressdemocrat.com.